Trickster Goddess Times Two
by AdraLoran
Summary: Four months after Kessel's Aftermath, this story revolves around Jaina and Jag's youngest child, Keira Fel. Fun stuff. Sequel to Dark Star. Rating liable to change.
1. Good Mortal

Title: Trickster Goddess Times Two  
Author: AdraLoran  
Keywords: Junior Wraith Squadron  
Dramatis Personal:  
Colonel Jagged Fel (male human)  
Colonel Jaina Fel (female human)  
Commander Cloud Ritril (male human)  
Commander Tyria Ritril (female human)  
Davin Fel (male human)  
Rane Fel (male human)  
Kavin Ritril (male human)  
Keira Fel (female human)  
Cerise Ritril (female human)****

**Chapter One – Good Mortal**

Kavin stared at the ceiling, his expression unreadable even to himself.  He didn't know what he was feeling exactly, but it wasn't his usual feeling.  He did know he missed Keira, so maybe it had something to do with that.  He rolled onto his back, glanced at the chrono- 2100- and then looked back at the ceiling.  How could he be in bed this early?  With a sigh, he scolded himself.  Keira had been gone for two and a half weeks.  It couldn't kill him, after all.

Quite abruptly, his door swooshed open, allowing the elongated shadow of a person to come into view.  Kavin sat up on his elbows hurriedly, trying to make out the figure's face.  Just as abruptly as the door had opened and blinded him, it had closed again.  Using the Force, Kavin tried to identify the figure, wondering who would just walk into his room besides Cerise.  And this certainly wasn't Cerise.

The presence, however, was heavily cloaked, and provided him no insight as to who it was.  Of course, he also didn't have time to try anything past a brush in the web of life. But he didn't need the Force to figure anything else out, not after what the figure did.  After the secondary brush in the Force, he received a kiss on the cheek.

"Keir?" he asked shakily, knowing the answer even before it was given.  Instead of a verbal reply, Keira kissed him firmly on the lips.  When they split apart, Kavin was grinning.

He felt his bed move, indicating she'd sat down.  Kavin rolled back to his side to face her, now grinning at her.  Keira was readjusting herself to lie on her stomach, which seemed to be her favorite position, her knees bent to dangle her feet over her back.  There was a comfortable silence that hung between them, Keira swinging her feet back and forth.

Kavin smiled to himself as he continued to watch her.  Before he said anything though, a voice appeared angrily in his head.  It was followed by it's twin.

_Kavin Ritril!_ Davin Fel's annoyed voice carried to him.  _You'd better not be doing anything to our sister._

_If you are,_ Rane continued for his twin, _We'll__ be delivering a reminder very soon as to why you would be smarter not to._

Kavin looked at Keira, a bit surprised that she hadn't gone to Twin Suns first.  "Did you come straight here then?"  As he said it, he realized Keira's hair was perfectly straight and, as he began to see color with the dim light, black.

Keira smiled and nodded to him.  Then he heard her talking to her brothers.  _Dav__... Rane... Leave him alone.  If you're really upset, then just go find Liselle and Inyri and occupy yourselves.  With that, Keira looked back at him, smiling slightly.  "I see they're already warning you.  Anyway, I'm sure you've noticed I've still got all my pretty undercover looks."  As she spoke, she struck a fake holostar pose, flipping her hair over her shoulder.  Kavin laughed at her antics, shaking his head._

Playing along with her mood, he nodded in all seriousness.  "Of course; honestly, you're Keira Fel, how could anyone not notice how beautiful you are?"  Or, he added silently, to me at least.

Both of them sniggered over their take on the words, though Kavin thought he saw something flickering behind her gaze.  Before he could demand an answer, she sighed and readjusted herself so she was lying on her back, staring up.  Absently, Kavin combed his fingers through Keira's hair, watching her.

"Yeah," she said at last.  "Not many of the Imperial idiots at Cloud City managed to look past it."  Her face darkened while she stared up.

He stopped toying with her loose hair and instead looked at her face, searching out answers.  "You're not serious, are you?  I mean, they didn't do anything, did they?"

Keira started laughing almost instantly, as if she knew what had prompted the second question, shaking her head.  "Kavin, I'd never _let_ them do anything, but yes, I was serious.  However, had any of them dared _try_ touch me, I'd just have had to go Mom-type Goddess on them."

When she finished, Kavin was laughing along with her.  "Good thing too."  He paused, then said, "It's good to have you back, Keir."

She looked over at him, a smile on her face.  "Good to be back, Kav."  She reached over and ruffled his hair.  Before he could raise a hand to fix it, she hugged him, then shoved him onto his back.  Kavin let out a breath of air as his side hit the bed again.  Keira was up and sitting on her heels just as quickly, smirking down at him.  Her stature quite completely said 'I win'.

Kavin sighed in defeat.  "Fine, fine, you win," he grinned.

Keira leaned down and for the briefest moment, Kavin felt her lips on his before she pulled away.  _Good Mortal.  He'd hardly noticed her praise before her weight was lying half on top of him.  He looked down at her as Keira rested her head on his chest, her arm going halfway around his waist.  Her trip must've been more tiring than he'd originally imagined, because in the next few seconds, she was asleep._

* * * * *

Keira woke the next day in much the same position she'd unconsciously fallen asleep in.  A hand was running its fingers through her hair and, for a moment, Keira just lay where she was, perfectly content.  The next second, however, she heard the door swoosh open.  Silently she muttered curses at herself for thinking it was a good idea to come to Wraith headquarters the previous evening.

Not thinking anything of her blue eyes and straightened black hair, Keira remained where she was, perfectly content not to move.  Her back turned to the door, as it had been when she'd fallen asleep, she suddenly heard the footsteps stop.  Reaching out curiously with the Force, Keira found that it was Cerise, who was now standing in shock.  The younger Ritril must've come in to tell her brother that Keira herself was back, as she'd asked Iella not to put her as such until this morning.  No matter.

"Kavin Ritril," Cerise said suddenly.  Keira felt Kavin move ever-so-slightly to see the door- he obviously thought she was still asleep- and she slowly withdrew her arm from across his stomach.

"Yeah?" he replied groggily.

She instantly felt Cerise's shock at Kavin's attitude.  Then, remembering her temporary new look, she understood.

"Kavin!  How can you be saying it like that?" Cerise sounded shocked.  She obviously hadn't checked the Force to see who Keira was.  "I can't believe that you- of all people- would do this to your girlfriend!  Keira's going to kill you, you know."

Knowing she was going to start laughing if she didn't say something, Keira turned her blue-eyed gaze on Cerise.  "Now why would I do that?" she asked the worked-up mechanic.

She watched as Cerise blinked in surprise and looked between the two of them.  Her slightly opened mouth shut very quickly and she offered a sheepish smile.  "Oh," was all she said for a minute.  "Oh."

Next to her, Kavin began laughing.  Cerise's face reddened a little even as Keira looked away from her.  Instead, she returned her gaze to her boyfriend.  Propping herself up on an elbow, she used her free hand to slap him lightly on the chest.  "Enough you; it's an honest mistake after all.  I wasn't supposed to be back until today."

"Wait," Cerise broke in rather suddenly.  "You mean Davin and Rane weren't being far-fetched and crazy when they came looking for you earlier this morning?  Well, more like demanding we go get you, but hey."

Keira laughed and shook her head.  "No, they weren't being far-fetched or crazy _or_ stupid.  You know how overprotective siblings are, after all.  I had come straight here after I reported to Iella.  Of course, those two did get rather annoying last night..."  She giggled as Cerise mouthed at her, her eyes dancing between her brother and Keira.  "No, 'Rise, we didn't do anything.  Honestly."

Cerise nodded and shrugged.  "None of my business anyway.  But, you guys _do_ know that it's 0830, right?  I was supposed to be waking Kav up and telling him that you, Keira, were back...only I guess he figured that out himself."  She shot him a look, then shrugged again.  "Anyway, Mom and Dad are going to come in here if you don't get out of here.  And, just a warning, Dav and Rane are still here."

Behind her, Keira heard Kavin curse softly.  Laughing aloud, she nodded to Cerise.  "I'm sure they'll be fine.  After all, they've dealt with their issues before."

"Yeah," Cerise replied, "But they've never been this annoyed before."


	2. To Win An Argument

**Chapter Two – To Win An Argument**

Keira was sitting next to Kai Loran, the pair of them sipping caf, in Wraith headquarters' lounge.  The chrono had just blinked in at 0901, and just about everyone was up and sitting around the lounge.  Davin and Rane were discussing something between themselves, Doran Tainer and Garik Loran included.  Kavin was sitting on Keira's other side, Cerise across from her.  Kavin held a steaming mug in his hands, though he wasn't drinking anything from it.  Instead, he seemed to be merely enjoying the feeling of the heated surface beneath his hands.

At something Cerise said to Kai, and Keira had no clue what considering she was still half asleep, Kavin's head jerked over to stare at his sister.  "Cerise, you can't be serious.  Why can't you just fly your X-Wing over to other buildings like everyone else?"

Cerise shot him a look filled with annoyance and answered, "Because, oh Force-dependent brother of mine, I don't think I should have to."

At this point, Keira glanced at Kai, raising an eyebrow.  _What do you say we find a way to get him to lay off our mechanic?  Kai nodded, grinning slightly._

However, Keira hadn't expected Kavin to reply in the way he did.  "I thought that at least _you_ would understand, Kai," he said, looking pointedly at her.  Keira mentally groaned at her boyfriend's idiocy, wondering why she had held that he had some intelligence in such high esteem.

Next to her, Kai turned her now-serious gaze on Kavin, her expression darkening still.  "Shut up."  Her voice was perfectly calm, though Keira could sense anything but coming through the Force.

Thankfully, Keira hadn't over-rated Kavin's interpretation ability.  He'd looked down at his mug as soon as Kai had spoken, obviously realizing the error in how he had spoken.  "Well, I'm just trying to make my point, Kai," he replied quietly.

Her expression uncaring as to the reasoning behind bringing up the Kessel mission's details, Kai glared hard at Kavin's face.  "Just.  Shut.  Up," she said forcefully.  Then she pushed back her chair and walked over to where the Liselle and Inyri were sitting.  The twosome quickly moved over to make room for Kai to sit with them, then they all began talking again.  Kavin was, wisely, still remaining quiet.

Shaking her head hopelessly, Keira looked over to the couch in front of their table.  On it was seated Adra Loran and Nicola Afyon, Meli sitting opposite them.  The three of them appeared to be deep in a discussion to do with alcoholic beverages.

"Nothing's wrong with getting drunk occasionally.  It helps you forget things you don't want to remember," Meli said, even as Keira watched her.

Adra's head nodded, momentarily blocking Keira's view on the situation, but it was easily fixed.  "For once, I'm in agreement with my hold daughter.  Scary thought."  As she said it, she rubbed her forehead, then shook her head slightly.  "Alright, I'm going to find headache medicine.  See you two later."   Keira watched as the older pilot walked towards the lounge door and exited, not sure what had prompted the exit.

Meli sighed after her aunt, though remained where she was.  Keira excused herself from Kavin and Cerise's conversation with a nod and a smile, then walked over to where Aunt Nicola and Meli were sitting in a comfortable silence.

"I'm so loved around here," Meli finally said, her voice dripping sarcasm.

Keira, still standing, grinned slightly.  "No comment," she said.  Her voice wasn't the only one to speak, however.  Keira found herself listening not only to her own voice, but also to Rane's.

The older girl muttered some indistinguishable curses under her breath, then stood up and walked out the door after her aunt.  No doubt, she was heading to the demolitions range.  Or the simulators, for that matter.  In either, she could blow something up.

Thinking Meli was out of range, Keira sniggered slightly and looked over to her aunt.  "I hate to say it like this, but she needs a boyfriend.  A permanent one.  Not a different guy every night."

It took two seconds, but as that timeframe ended, Meli's voice popped up in the Force.  _I heard that Keira!  However, Nicola Afyon was nodding, a grin on her face.  Her husband crossed the room to come sit next to her, even as Keira weaved through furniture to sit with Kai and Ciny, Inyri and Lis now absent, though probably close by._

Deciding that Meli deserved the grace of an answer, and that she needed to defend her statement, she replied, _I'm sure you did.  Too bad I'm not concerned about the consequences.  The reception it received was marked by a mental image of storm clouds being sent to her.  Not that she had expected less, considering this was Melidere Afyon, after all._

Kavin cross the room, his mug in hand, and sat down next to her, the earlier annoyance emanating from Kai now gone.  If it hadn't been, Keira doubted very much if Kavin would've come to sit next to her.

_Why does Kavin have to date a miniature Aunt Jaina?_ came Meli's reply at long-last.

Knowing Kavin had heard the rhetoric question, Keira let him answer it.  _Because I want to._  Deal with it, Meli.__

She looked over at her boyfriend and grinned.  Then, taking another sip from her mug, she added to his answer in her inherited sarcasm.  _And because my mother was taken.__  I also happen to like the ignorant boy._

Through the Force, she felt Meli's annoyance slipping in resolve.  As Kavin spoke, Keira was almost sure she heard laughter.

_Oh, now I'm ignorant too?  I think I liked creative better._

_Fine, you're creative,_ Keira told him, not really sure why she was trying to make it up to him.  As of two seconds before, Meli had detached herself from the conversation, sending a mental excuse of something blowing up.  "Creative," she continued aloud, "but biologically predispositioned to be ignorant."

Kavin seemed to study her face for a minute, almost as if he were searching out if she were being serious or not.  "That's the best I'm going to get, isn't it?" he asked her at last.

"Unless you'd like to work on persuading me otherwise, yes," she answered him promptly.

She'd said that partly because she'd wanted to see his reaction, and partly because Davin and Rane were looking at the two of them.  The problem with her brothers was that they were way too overprotective.  It wasn't as if they couldn't be used to the idea of her having a boyfriend now, they just chose not to.  As she'd finished speaking, Davin had taken up permanent airspace to glare at Kavin.  Next to Davin, Rane looked about ready to shove Kavin in carbonite...and he probably would, if giving the chance and resources.

Kavin obviously saw her brothers' faces, as he scooted a few inches away from them and towards her.  _Well, as soon as we get away from your brothers, I'll see about that._

Grinning with her own kind of personal triumph, Keira glared quickly at the older Fels.  However, she already had her idea, so she put it in motion.  _Inyri?__  Liselle?  Where are you two when you're needed most?  Quickly standing, she grabbed Kavin and pulled him from the floor and into the hall.  She heard the door swoosh shut behind him, obviously powered by the Force.  Just on the other side of the closed door, she felt Davin's Force-presence moving towards them._

Two standard seconds later, Inyri walked past them, coming from the computer room, shaking her head.  As she opened the door, Keira could make out her saying something like "every time they want to go off and make out, who gets pissed?  Davin and Rane Fel, of course."

Right in front of them, from the computer room's door, Lis's head could be seen poking out after her triplet.  "Hey Inyri, are they being annoying again?"

Even if the question wasn't aimed at her, she still had the right to answer it.  They were her brothers, after all.  "Yes, yes they are."  Liselle raised an eyebrow at her, then looked back to her triplet.

"So their sister says.  I can only assume that means they're trying to keep her from having 'private time' with her boyfriend," Inyri shot back, having just grabbed Davin's arm as he made to move out the door.

At that, Liselle abandon her post by the door and walked over to the lounge, shaking her head.  "Why am I not surprised?" she asked Inyri.

"Because that's the only thing we get worked up over," Keira heard Rane say, followed by a few choice curses taught to them by their father along with Kavin's name in one sentence.  Davin's voice seconded his sympathies.

Keira led Kavin a good deal away down the hall, just in case one of her brothers managed to work their way out of Liselle or Inyri's grip.  She didn't need a dead boyfriend, especially not a dead boyfriend she happened to be so fond of.  _Rane, saying curses about him won't make me break up with Kavin.  Get used to it._

Through the Force, in a way of answer, she heard Rane suggest a solution to Davin.  _What do you say we find the kid after Keira goes back to base?  Talk to him...nicely.  She looked over her shoulder, still able to see her older brothers through the open door.  Davin was smirking just as wickedly as Rane._

_Sounds good.__  Except I think our definition of 'nicely' will differ slightly from others..."_

_Good thing I'll refuse to leave then,_ she interjected, getting rather pissed off at their behavior.  She was kriffing 17 years old; if she couldn't make her own choices by now, then she didn't want to wait until her siblings released her.

From behind her, she heard Davin give a verbal curse.  Rane preferred the Force.  _Damn it._

* * * * *

"That's a bit mild of a term, Rane," Davin replied evenly, his voice sounding almost dry.  He looked over at his brother once Keira and Kavin were out of sight and around the corner.  No doubt the koochoo already had his hands down her shirt, considering.

Rane sighed, shaking his head.  "Why do I get the impression that what she said has a hidden meaning?" he sighed at last.  Rane looked over at Liselle, appearing to be looking for some sort of saving grace of a remark; Davin knew it wouldn't come.

"Because she probably does, Rane," Liselle told him.  Had the situation been any less serious in his eyes, Davin would've found it hard not to laugh at his brother's expression.

"Kriff," was all Rane said.

Liselle shook her head, then walked over to Rane.  She took a firm hold on his arm, forced him to stand, and then began leading him down the hallway in the opposite direction from Keira and Kavin.  Davin, thinking Inyri wasn't really paying attention, moved off down the hallway.

He got all of two steps before Inyri grabbed him with a, "No you don't."

Behind him, and still walking, Rane was allowing himself to be led away.  Of course, he was still being led away with various protests.  Such as, "Come on Liselle, she's kriffing 17!"

She stopped dragging him off long enough to readjust her grip on his arm, then looked between Rane and Davin himself.  Remembering not to cringe at her look, he listened.  "Either of you make a wrong move, and I get to have fun and go Targeter.  Got it?"

Next to Liselle, and still in her death-locked grip, Rane winced.  Davin doubted it was from how tight her told was, as well.  "Now, that's not fair..."  Rane trailed off as Liselle turned her glare on him.

"Very fair."

"For the most part, she's right," Inyri said after her triplet.  "Now many of us were exactly...'innocent'...at that age."

"I hate being out-worded," Rane muttered immediately following.

Davin, at last deciding to give up trying to go after Keira and Kavin, looked over at his girlfriend and brother.  "So do I, but I'm starting to think that trying to beat them with words is rather futile."

"What are you saying?  We beat them at their own game?"

Next to him, Davin saw Inyri raise an eyebrow at their topic.  She coughed suddenly, obviously covering up something she was saying, but he didn't get it.  So instead of trying to figure it out, Dav merely looked back at his brother.  "We can try, but I don't think it'll work."  Rane muttered darkly at his response.

Across from him, Liselle looked sharply away from Rane and Davin, instead looking to her triplet.  "Don't you just love it when they get like this?"

"And they wonder why we talk about them like they're not here," Inyri replied in kind.

Before Liselle could respond, Rane kissed her, obviously not liking the way the topic was moving.  Davin stifled a grin as Lis released her hold on his brother, instead obviously more concerned with kissing him.

"Oh," Davin said, voice falsely enlightened, "So that's how we get your guys to stop yelling at us."  As he finished, he turned to Inyri and kissed her, noting with a bit of pleasure that he'd stopped her from saying something.

Inside his head, he could hear her snigger at him.  Next second, there was a hand grabbing the front of his shirt, pulling him away from his brother and Liselle.  Inyri kept a firm hold on him, even as she pulled away for a breath, then kissed him again.  Davin only broke off when there was another voice in his head, a whisper of Keira's presence attached to it.  It said, very softly, "I win."  But even as he grabbed at the presence's hold, he found Keira was very suddenly occupied with being distracted from further 'talking'.


	3. Information File: The Solos

**Chapter Three – Information File: The Solos**

Cerise watched out the lounge door at the two couples who were now all but making out in the hallway.  Thankfully, Liselle and Inyri had enough sense to lead their boyfriends to more...private places.  Looking over at Meli, who had returned from the demolitions range, and Kai, she rolled her eyes.  "I swear, this place is like a love bar or something."

"Not exactly," Meli countered, "They're all couples here."

"Of course it is.  And Meli," Kai added, "That's just 'cause you haven't found a boy you like."

Meli looked over at the dark haired girl, her own eyebrow raised.  "Define 'boy you like', Kai."

She put on a thoughtful face for all of three seconds before coming up with, "Boy you like:  A boy you wouldn't mind spending more than two years with and is on the same side of this damned war as you are."

Ciny, sitting next to Meli, raised an eyebrow.  The girl obviously wasn't impressed with her sister's description.  "That's a pretty loose definition, Kai," she said.

However, Meli didn't appear to notice.  "Oh.  Well, if you hadn't included that 'same side of the damned war' bit, I would've been fine a year or two ago."

"I know.  That's why I said it."  Kai set her mug down on the table with a muffled thump, then stood up.  "I'm going to now drop from this debate and go find a certain brother of yours."

Ciny just shook her head as her younger sibling made for the door.

"I swear," Meli said to Kai's back, "I think Cerise is right.  This place is turning into lover's lane or a sex house, whichever one fits better."  Kai said nothing and continued out the door.

She appeared back in the doorframe a second later, her hard glare now fixing on Garik.  The two obviously were having a conversation the others couldn't hear, because a second later Kai made a rather rude gesture at him and turned away once more.

The same twin who'd just been given the rude gesture was then spoken to by his girlfriend.  "Are we the only couple around here who's not having sex every five minutes?" Koyi asked him.

Before any answer could be made, Gaeriel Captison walked into the room, hand held up as if she were holorecording of the scene.  "Welcome to the newest in a series realistic holovids entitled 'Teenagers and their Hormones.'  It is played by the actors and actresses of the Junior Wraith Squadron and their friends," the politician said, focusing her 'recorder' on each of their faces.  "Please note that this holovid is completely nonfiction."

As she finished speaking, Meli, Doran and Cerise all broke out laughing.  Gaeriel continued 'recording' the room's occupants, even as Garik inched away from where she was standing.  "Yeah..." he said, very slowly.  "Something like that..."

Ciny, being Ciny, stood up from her chair and walked over to the 'holorecorder' and 'looked' through the lens.  "And... CUT!  That's a take!" she said after a moment.  Gaeriel nodded quickly and 'turned' it off.  As she walked from the room again, she shook her head, laughing softly.

"You know," Cerise said after a moment, looking thoughtful, "with Kavin this involved with Keira, I could probably get away with a lot of things without him hovering over my shoulder."

A presence that was just walking in the door stopped, her jaw dropping.  The Junior Wraiths nodded in some form of greeting to Niralii as the girl picked her jaw up off the ground.  "You can't be serious, 'Rise," she said at last.

Cerise rolled her eyes, saying, "Of course I'm not serious.  What kind of mechanic do you think I am?"

Before the other girl had a chance to say a word, Mikko and Arion Solo's head poked up over their sister's shoulders, both obviously prodding her in the back.  "Move, move," Arion ordered after a moment.

Over all three of their heads, Anakin Solo's face appeared, eyes dancing as he looked around the room.  "Have any of you seen Kell or Cloud?" he asked, after obviously not finding who he needed.

Meli pointed in the direction he should go down the hallway.  "Try the demolitions range."  The Jedi smiled at her, nodded to the rest of them, then set off down the hall, leaving his children to mingle with their friends.

Nira, still blocking the door only now doing it on purpose, said something to her brothers in Yuuzhan Vong.  Then she let go of the doorframe and walked over to sit next to Cerise.  "No, I didn't think you were," she said as she said, "Or I hoped not."

The other girl nodded, smiling slightly.  Then the attention was once again turned to Mikko and Arion Solo.  The latter was staring after his father, blinking rapidly.

"Okay then..." Arion finally said, shrugging.  "Whatever.  Mom didn't wreck anything before we left..."

"Yeah," Mikko agreed, "_Before_ we left."

Seeming to give that some thought, Arion nodded quickly.  "Good point."

Meli blinked at them, then looked quickly at Nira.  She was glaring heavily at them, and seemed to be fixing her gaze on a piece of Arion's hair.  Searching the Force, Meli found the faint sounds of Yuuzhan Vong words being delivered into Arion's mind.

It took all of five standard seconds for the middle Solo child to turn around and glare at her.  "And would you _quit it_ with that kriffing Vong business!"

"Yuuzhan Vong," nearly everyone at Nira's table corrected.  That left the girl smiling smugly at her brother.

Before much more could be said, Cerise looked between Meli and Ciny.  "Alright, who wants to get Sarai this time?" she said, without much preamble.

"I got her last time," Ciny said immediately.

Meli quickly added, "I went the time before that."

Arion, still glaring at Nira, shook his head.  "No, no one has to.  I'll find her.  I'd prefer it to staying around with my twisted sibling."

A half dozen glares were shot back at him, though Cerise was the only one who made comment.  "Okay," she said, "That works too."  Arion was out the door a second later, muttering curses the whole way.

"Interesting.  Very interesting," came suddenly from across the room.  Mikko had settled himself in front of the holoprojector and had a holovid playing.  He appeared to be commenting on his twin's reactions.

The silence, minus the noise from the holovid, reigned supreme for a few more minutes.  Then, abruptly, Ciny seemed to get an idea.  She looked at Meli, then glanced back at the back of Mikko's head, a grin on her face.

"Alright, since Mikko's the only one I haven't yet interrogated or made assumptions over, who _do_ you like then, Solo?" she asked, appearing genuinely interested.

Meli suddenly looked up.  She quickly put down the caf, so as to not overfill her mug, and turned to look at Mikko as well.  "Ooo, good point Ciny!"  She quickly nodded her approval to the girl, then looked at Mikko's head.  "Come on, Solo, enlighten us today."

"Bite me," Mikko replied, "It's my business and that's that."

Before so much as the thought to frown crossed Meli's mind, Nira was speaking to her brother.  "Miek...come on!" she pleaded with him, "Don't make _me_ tell them!"

Grinning at the girl, Meli then looked at Ciny.  "Come on, Ciny, we can figure this out.  The glorious process of elimination is on our side here.  We can safely assume that it's no one who's dating, unless he's just in love and his love isn't returned-" she paused as Doran coughed, cover up what sounded like 'like me' then continued- "However, we want to assume, for starts, that it's not one of those people.  If it is, we'll be very hard pressed to play matchmaker."

As Ciny began ticking off names of people who it couldn't be, Mikko suddenly spoke up.  "And no, Nira, you don't need to tell them.  And neither of you are going to guess it, if you're staying to your average 'hottie list', so don't even try."

Meli and Ciny both scowled at the oldest Solo child, Meli muttering comments to him under her breath.  Deciding to take the easy route out, she turned to Nira.  "You want to tell us then?"

The girl grinned evilly at her older brother's head, saying slowly, "Well... I _could_..."

"Alright then," Meli said, clapping her hands together and getting down to business.  "Older or younger?"

Dutifully, Nira answered with a crisp, "Younger."

As Nira answered Meli's question, Mikko hurriedly called the datacard to him via the Force.  Meli opened her mouth to speak again, only to see Mikko hurrying from the room, seeing as he realized there was no way to stop this process from meeting completion.

"How much younger," Meli said, looking around the table, her gaze landing on Cerise.  "Perhaps...um...maybe, say, four years younger?"

Ciny began sniggering, seeing where Meli was looking.  Cerise was still fiddling with her mechanical gadget, obviously not having any clue as to the subject of the discussion.

Nira's grin widened as she looked to the ceiling.  "Maybe..." she said, stretching the word.

At once, Ciny started with a singsong voice, saying 'Mikko's got a crush' over and over again.  Meli silently agreed, though didn't make such a show of it.  Mikko Solo didn't seem like the person to suddenly being liking someone.  Of course, that wasn't saying much.

"Yes, Mikko does.  Now it's just up to me to figure out if I like someone," Nira said with a sigh.

Momentarily put off from thinking up ways to get Mikko and Cerise together, Meli looked at Nira.  She blinked, then shook her head.  "Oh, you'll live.  Trust me, being single has it's advantages."

Nira smirked as she looked over at Meli, and Meli grinned back.  The girl obviously knew exactly what she was talking about.  "I know.  I happen to find a few of the local flyboys rather good looking."  Meli merely smiled at the girl, thinking about a long list of things she could share about most of the 'locals'.


End file.
